#91: of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Welcome back to VJ Samsonite's top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Today we are presenting #91 of the top 100 countdown! And the song is...Somebody's Watching Me, by former R&B performer Rockwell. Rockwell (aka Kennedy William Gordy) comes out of Detroit Michigan and was signed on to the Motown label in the 80's, which was founded by his father Berry Gordy (who just so happened to also be the CEO). It is said that Rockwell captured his record deal with Motown without his father's knowledge. Somebody's Watching Me became a top 10 pop hit in the US and the UK and a #1 R&B hit. The song features guest vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson, who are featured during the song's chorus. This song of course has also been remixed by various DJ's, and for anyone who has watched Don't Mess With the Zohan, you will have heard the mainstream house remix of the song. And for anyone who is looking for another good 80's song to add to their Halloween party play-list, this should be one of them. This song also has been featured in a movie tribute I've made and perhaps could one day release. The original song was released in January of 1984, and in 2009 the song was ranked #20 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s. Totally Rad!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Repulsion, by US indie-rock band Quasi. Quasi come at us out of ever-green Portland, Oregon, regional home of the Trailblazers, great micro-brews, me, and much much more. Quasi formed in 1993, consisting of an ex-husband and wife duo, Sam Coomes (vocals, guitar, rocksichord, and keyboards) and Janet Weiss on vocals and drums, to later on add bassist Joanna Bolme (in 2007). Quasi have been fairly prolific as they have released 10 studio albums. Repulsion, comes off of their latest album titled American Gong, which was released in February of 2010. I heard this band on the radio, an internet radio station and liked it, plus they are from my hometown. The radio personality was saying that they reckoned that Quasi are lost in the 90's, which I suppose I can see as they have some guitar riffs shades of Smashing Pumpkins, and vocals a bit reminiscent of 80's band The Replacements; but all in all that is all completely subjective, and they are indie-rock, so that's enough for me. Blah!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Peek-a-boo, by independent Australian indie artist, songwriter, and guitarist Bertie Blackman. Bertie Blackman comes out of Sydney Australia, and has released 3 studio albums. Now, as most of you probably already know, Peek-a-boo was originally a Siouxsie and the Banshees song from their 1988 Peepshow album. The Siouxsie and the Banshees release is thought to be a remake of the original release titled Jeepers Creepers, written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer as a Jazz song in 1938. It usually irritates me when bands and artists do covers of songs, unless they can pull it off and make them sound better than the original (which is rarely done). I am also a big 80's music fan, so its a bit of a surprise to even myself that I actually like this cover-song by Bertie Blackman. I find that she has effectively recaptured the original sound quite well. Some other facts for you: Bertie is the daughter of Aussie artist Charles Blackman, and she began playing African percussion at the age of 12, and guitar at 15. She grew up in the suburbs of Bondi (a beautiful beachy area) and Paddo (Paddington for you non-Sydneysiders, which is a bit of a chic area near fashionable Oxford Street, or something like that). She won the Best Independent Release ARIA Award in 2009. Nuff said, enjoy, snap!

#92: of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Welcome back to VJ Samsonite's top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Today we are presenting #92 of the top 100 countdown!And the song is...Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, by 80's British new-wave rock band Ultravox!. According to wikipedia they were one of the primary bands involved in the Brit-electro-pop of the early 1980's. They were considered to be associated with the new romantic and the new wave movements. The band was originally formed in 1973 under the name Tigerlily. In 1976 the lead singer changed his name to John Foxx and the band changed their name to Ultravox!  The actual evolution of the band and its members is rather convoluted and if you really want to know the details then I suggest you check out their wikipedia page. Dancing with Tears in My Eyes is a great dance track, and was the second single release off of the band's 7th studio album, Lament (released in 1984). Dancing with Tears in My Eyes hit #3 on the UK single charts, thus effectively putting Ultravox! back on the radar. Apparently (again according to wikipedia) the song is about nuclear power plants and the possibility of nuclear meltdown, which is depicted in the music video. I find that kind of strange now, seeing that the Chernobyl disaster occurred just two years later in 1986, but I suppose that would have made their message regarding the risks of nuclear power even more significant. There are a few different versions of the song, including the 7" and 12" vinyl versions. Enjoy!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...The Festival Song, by Aussie Hip Hop MC Pez (feat. 360 & Hailey Cramer). Pez (Perry Chapman) is from Melbourne, Australia and has released 4 albums between 2006-2009. The Festival Song was released as a single in 2008 and reached #53 on the Australian music charts. This song may not make much sense to those who are not Australian or who haven't been around the "Music Festival" culture that exists there. Pez refers to many different festivals (their is in fact one called Summer Dayz) that occur in Victoria in the Summertime (which is December-February in the Southern Hemisphere), although there are dozens that occur throughout Australia during the year. Amongst these festivals are Parklife, Homebake, V Festival, The Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass, Soundwave, Falls Festival, Meredith Music Festival, Pyramid Rock Festival, and on and on....the fact is that despite having a total population of about 22.3 million people (that's 15 million fewer people than the state of California alone) Australia sure has its fair share of music festivals every year. If you want to see a fuller list of all them look here. Essentially that is what this song is about, the Aussie festival culture in all its glory. Straight Postin'!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Dog Days Are Over,  by UK indie-pop artist Florence and the Machine. Florence and the Machine comes out of London, and consists of Florence Welch, along with a variety of other artists that play backgrounds and other parts for her songs, but Florence is the lead. They are a young band, and released their first album in December 2008. They have a sort of indie-folk-pop sound, which alternates a bit during this song. I don't have too much more to say about this band as I really don't know much, but alas, this is the song of da day!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Orange X, by Aussie alternative indie rock band The Seabellies. The Seabellies come at us out of Sydney, yes you heard correctly, another good rock band from the Sunny Down-unda,' fackin' oath maite! Wikipedia states that they are also based out beautiful Newcastle, and New South Wales in general, so I guess they claim the whole state as their home-base, fair enough. The Seabellies formed in 2006, and released a 6-track EP in 2007. Orange X is a single just released in 2010. The band consists of 6 members and as you can hear they incorporate some electronica/electro into their sound (as many of the bands of the moment do). I personally haven't heard their other tracks, but I dig this one, so here it is. Big ups yoself!

#93: of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Welcome back to VJ Samsonite's top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Today we are presenting #93 of the top 100 countdown!And the song is....Maniac, by American songwriter, guitarist, and singer Michael Sembello. Now, most of you will know this song from one of the famous dancing scenes (starring Jennifer Beals) in which she is doing some fancy cathartic footwork in her 80's Jane-Fonda workout outfit. Now it might be just about impossible to leave out songs from Flashdance (1983), seeing that it was such an iconic 80's dance movie, did I hear rumors that they are remaking Flashdance (amongst other 80's classics like Footloose and Ghostbusters).. blasphemy!! Although, they basically remake everything that sees a hint of success so it is probably just one of those inevitability's. Did you know that the idea for Flashdance was inspired during a trip to a Toronto strip club?? Thanks IMDB! Now, getting back to a little bit on the artist and the song. Michael Sembello comes out of Philadelphia, and started his career primarily as a studio-guitarist for big-timers such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, The Temptations, and more. Sembello's first solo album titled Bossa Nova Hotel, which included the song Maniac, reached #80 on the Billboard 200, and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September of 1983. Anyways, enough data and facts, just go out and watch yourself some Flashdance, revisit memory lane before Hollywood remakes it and ruins it all...just kidding..I hope ;-( Go Tommy Boy!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Little Secrets, by US electronica band Passion Pit. Passion Pit come at us out of Cambridge, Massachusetts and formed in 2007. The group consists of Michael Angelakos (lead vocals/keyboards), Ian Hultquist (keyboards/guitar), Ayad Al Adhamy (synth), Jeff Apruzzese (bass) and Nate Donmoyer (on da drums). According to wikipedia, the name is derived from slang that was used to describe drive-in movie theaters as "passion pits," due to teenage hancky-pancky that tends to go on there. Passion Pit have released an EP and one full-length studio album. Little Secrets comes off of their album titled Manners (released in May 2009). Passion Pit definitely have a unique sound and electronic style to their music that makes them stand out a bit in that realm where so many bands tend to sound, how does one say "same same, but different." There are also such a ridiculous number of remixes by so many other dj's and groups out there that it can be a chore just to sort through it all to find the original mixes. Bloody volcanoes!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Help I'm Alive, by Canadian indie rock band Metric. Metric comes out of Toronto originally, and have moved base-locale a few times to London, Montreal, New York, and Los Angeles. The band consists of vocalist Emily Haines (who also plays the synthesizer and guitar), guitarist James Shaw (who also plays the theremin), bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key. Metric has won a couple of Juno Awards for past albums, as well as a 2006 Polaris Music Prize for Canadian album of the year. Help I'm Alive is the first song off of their Fantasies album (released in April 2009). Now Metric is actually a band that has received some airplay here on the mainstream radio stations and I've actually heard another good song of theirs off of the Fantasies album titled Gold Guns Girls played on the radio a few times, which surprised me, in a good way. I was pondering making a tribute with this song, but I don't really like the movie that comes to mind to mix it to, so we will see if I make it or not. Big ups yoself!

#94: of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Welcome back to VJ Samsonite's top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Today we are presenting #94 of the top 100 countdown! And the song is....Voices Carry, by Boston new wave band 'Til Tuesday. This band first gained attention just six months following their formation in 1982 with their single release Love in a Vacuum. It was later released on the album titled Voices Carry, which unpredictably also became the feature track of the album and smashed up to number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its original lineup was bassist/vocalist Aimee Mann, guitarist/vocalist Robert Holmes, keyboardist Joey Pesce, and drummer Michael Hausman. The songs success (according to wikpedia) is said to have lead to an argument and subsequent breakup between Mann and Hausman before the album's official release. As you will notice, the music video depicts an bully-boyfriend attempting to conform his lower-caste girlfriend into his upper-crust lifestyle. However, it was noticed that the song was actually written as one women to another, indicating a lesbian relationship, which angered the band's record company at the time and was countered by a video depicting an oppressive boy-girl relationship. Despite the debate surrounding the video and the song it won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist that year. Now some would not, but I still consider this band to be a One-Hit-80s-Wonder. Some would also debate as to whether this song constitutes as a "dance hit," but I consider it to be a slow-dance hit with a steady beat. Totally Rad!

VJ Samsonite's "Hot New Music" song of the day is....

...Paper Romance, by UK electronic duo Groove Armada. Groove Armada consists of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay.  Now I would be highly surprised if you've never heard of Groove Armada, as they have been around since about 1996 or so, and have released six studio albums over that time. It is also interesting to hear that they released a greatest hits album back in 2004, but continue to make new stuff and collaborate with artists, I guess that retirement isn't all that its cracked up to be. Paper Romance comes off of their latest album titled Black Light (released January 2010). I personally enjoyed their past album Lovebox, and recommend all to check it out too if you haven't already. A man needs a code.

And the Random Old Music Post of the Day is...

...Get Away, by New Zealand roots reggae band Katchafire. Katchafire formed originally in 1997 as a Bob Marley tribute band before they began writing and recording their own songs. The band has had many lineup changes throughout the years, and currently consists of seven members. Get Away comes off of their Revival album (released in 2003) and is full of smooth island reggae. This is a great album to put on during those hot summer days, especially if your at the beach somewhere. I highly recommend checking out the rest of their work, including their latest album. S'all in the game.